


The Escape

by amuk



Series: Guardians [6]
Category: Vampire Knight
Genre: Alternate Universe, Community: 24hour_themes, Escape, F/M, Fear, Friendship/Love, Hurt/Comfort, On the Run
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-25
Updated: 2013-01-25
Packaged: 2017-11-26 20:14:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,792
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/654002
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amuk/pseuds/amuk
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>All she can do is move forward, outrunning the silence that chases her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Escape

**Author's Note:**

> Uh, yes, a bit different than the others, but not too much so. I really, really, need to start working on my settings and actually write about them.
> 
> Theme: 09:00 // assistance for others, focusing on concrete matters

"I need help," she states simply. Nervously. Over time he has gotten used to this kind of voice, the one  that worries and fears even when safety is within reach.

 

Because safety is _never_ within reach.

 

Zero turns to look down at her, her long brown locks matted in dirt and mud. His eyes linger on the holes in her shirt, the stains on her pants, and he turns back to the horizon.

 

"You have the money?"

 

She nods before realizing he isn't looking at her anymore. "Y-Yes..." She pauses, her eyes tearing up as she remembers how she got here. "Yes, I do."

 

Her voice grew stronger at the last part and he turns to look at her once more. Her eyes are oddly luminescent, bright things for someone forced to go through this. Never mind that, he isn't paid to think about this.

 

"Then I will help you escape." He crouches in front of her, eyeing her once more. "..." Without saying anything he gets up and starts to walk down the dimly-lit street.

 

"Eh?" She watches him walk for a moment, surprised by how easy it was.

 

He pauses, glancing back at her over his shoulder. "What are you waiting for?"

 

"O-oh! Right." Quickly she gets off the ground, dusting herself lightly out of habit, and grabs the suitcase. Scrambling on the slippery cobbled street, she runs after him.

 

-x-

 

"First you need to cut that hair." He brings out a pair of scissors, glinting in the moonlight.

 

"What?" Fingering her hair, Yuuki stares at him. Kaname loved her hair long.

 

"You want to live, don't you?" He waits a beat before adding, "It's easier to go if you look like a boy."

 

"Oh." Closing her eyes, she runs a hand through her hair. They aren't as soft anymore, the locks sticking together in clumps.

 

 _Your hair looks beautiful when you..._ Kaname isn't here anymore, she reminds herself. He isn't.  

 

"Chop it all off." She closes her eyes, listening to--nothing. He's good at this, she has to admit, barely feeling her hair brush against her skin as it falls. When she opens her eyes again, her hair is shoulder length. "I thought you were getting rid of all of it."

 

He doesn't reply to that, instead handing her a cap to cover her head. "Change into these." In his hands are a pair of dark blue pants, the cloth coarse as she takes them, and a softer, light blue cotton shirt.

 

She doesn't look like a man, she decides when she looks in the mirror again, but she makes a fairly decent boy. As she approaches her guide--he never said his name, she realizes--he hands her another bag.

 

"What's this for?" she asks, opening it to find a cream-coloured blouse and a tan skirt.

 

He doesn't look at her, merely finishes packing. "When you have crossed, you will want to be a girl again."

 

"Oh..." She smiles softly at this.  Already planning so far ahead, when she isn't even sure if she'll make it across alive. "Thank you."

 

"It's nothing."

 

She supposes it really is, for someone like him. He must make this trip every night. "I'm Yuuki Kuran."

 

He pauses, looking up at her. The moonlight glanced off his hair, the strands turning a darker silver, and his eyes looked like the coins she used to buy bread.

 

(Breathtaking, she thinks.)

 

"You shouldn't have told me that." 

 

"Why?" 

 

He shakes his head, going back to his prepping. "Are you really this stupid?" He cuts off her angry response with his next sentence. "If I am captured, I can reveal who you are now."

 

"...oh..." She almost forgot about the torture stories.

 

-x-

 

She doesn't know the meaning of silence, he decides when she starts talking. They have been travelling for barely an hour--he glances at his silver pocket watch again, seeing the thin steel hand hit nine--and they still have a lot of ground to cover before the night falls again. 

 

"Where are we?" She--Yuuki, asks, glancing around curiously as they trot down a country road.

 

"I would appreciate it if you would stop talking." Zero paused, listening for footsteps. "It makes it harder for me."

 

That stops her. She follows him silently, carefully stepping where he does as they crossed a field. A crow caws in the distance, loud and piercing.

 

A bad omen, if he believed in those things.

 

A farmer appears in the distance, walking out of his barn, and Zero quickly pulls Yuuki down to hide in the wheat.

 

"Hmph!" she groans as she falls backwards. "That hurt--"

 

"Shut up." He peers at the farmer, watching as he walks back into his home. Yanking her arm, he pulls her up and drags her further down the field, into the woods nearby.

 

"..." She frowns at him, knowing he has a point but not liking how he put it. They start to stick to the shadows, the dapple pattern of light and dark shifting with the wind. They move forward warily, moving deeper in the forest whenever someone passes by.

 

Something rumbles beside him and Zero tenses before Yuuki gives a nervous laugh. "...I'm hungry."

 

"..." Her guide turns to look at her, an eyebrow raised.

 

"I haven't eaten since yesterday and--" She gives a sheepish grin. "I...I can ignore this until we can eat..."

 

Sighing, he shrugs off his pack and opens it, taking out an apple. "We'll eat now."

 

-x-

 

"You do this often?" Yuuki asks when they halt to rest by a stream.  She sits down tired, having walked since morning without a break.

 

"Rarely now," Zero responds softly, warily looking around as he refills their bottles. "Last trip."

 

"Oh--"

 

"Especially because of morons like you."

 

"What?" She whisper-yells, remembering her situation just as the word escapes. She shouldn't be so angry at him when he's risking his life for her. Really, she should be thankful that he's still with her.

 

That still doesn't give him the right to keep insulting her like this. Everytime she tried to talk, he would make a comment that would leave her steaming.

 

"Stop saying things like that!" She towers over him, glowering as he coolly gives her a tight-lipped smile.

 

"Then stop giving me reasons to do so." He gets up, his shadow covering her entirely. "We're not on a field trip. Stop trying to talk so much."

 

"I...I..." She fumes silently, reminding herself that it won't help her if he gets angry at her. She won't make it if he abandons her halfway.

 

Though, it is rather tempting to teach him a lesson.

 

Sighing, she plops down, watching as he returns to the bottles. He dips the second one in the stream, waiting for the clear water to fill it up completely before screwing the lid on tight. Four more dark-coloured bottles, leaning against each other, sat on the bank beside the flowing river.

 

 "...I hate silence."

 

His eyes dart to her for a moment before returning to his work.  After the bottle tilts into the stream, he responds. "It's useful."

 

"I know." She sighs, looking up at the sky now. "I know that being quiet will save us. It's just..." Silence is a heavy thing, draping itself across homes that were filled with laughter. Silence means death, means a stopping of life, a stilling of a world. "Silence means there is nothing left."

 

She stares at the clouds, missing the way he watches her as she talks. Then the moment passes and he orders her to get up and start moving again.

 

They shift through the trees, walking on the borders between the fields and the forest. Sometimes they would duck quickly, a sudden flash of movement making them wary.

 

"...at least you don't complain," he concedes after she stopped talking entirely for an hour. She glances at him, surprised, as he carefully makes his way back to the road.

 

He doesn't say anything else but she gives him a sunny smile and continues with her questions.

 

-x-

 

His hand is cool, gripping her sweaty hand tightly as they make another turn. The moon shines on them brightly and she wishes it would just go away. It's easier to hide in the dark.

 

The guards are getting closer, their footsteps thumping loudly as their boots slam into the ground quicker and quicker. There is a soft click as one of them rises his gun.

 

He makes a quick right turn, dragging her after him, just as a bullet whizzes past her left shoulder.

 

"We're nearly there," he pants, his breath coming out in puffs. It's colder here and the night breeze chills her even more.

 

"What...are...we...going...to...do?" She wheezes each word out between each breath, gasping as they halt in an ally.

 

"Quickly," He shrugs off the bag he gave her earlier, having carried it for the last few days. "Put on the coat."

 

"What?"

 

He glares at her, harshly snapping, "No time for questions. Just put it on!"

 

Yuuki swallows nervously, donning the coat as he ordered. It's a little loose, hanging off her shoulders precariously, but it warms her up and that is all that matters. "Now what?"

 

He stares at her briefly, taking in her thin form. It's still visible, even through the coat; the toll of starvation. 

 

"Here is an address. I want you to go to it." He reaches into his pocket, pulling out a scrap of paper. It's grimy and dirty from use but she can make out the words.  "Ask for Cross."

 

"But--"

 

He silences her with a look, pulling out a gun from his own coat. "Now, when I give the signal, keep running." Peering out the corner, he raises his gun and aims. A second, a minute, a--"Now!"

 

"What--"

 

He shoots, and the soldier gives a surprised shoot as his comrade falls.

 

"Run, you idiot!" He turns back to look at her, his eyes gleaming in the pale light. When he sees her hesitation, his voice grows sharper. "Don't look back. Never look back. Just run."

 

Then he returns to watching the street, shooting carefully at the soldiers appearing. Yuuki still stands there, frozen, when his last words to her break the spell.

 

"My name is Zero."

 

With that, she turns and flees, ignoring the steady plops of bullet cases. He shoots more, running in the opposite direction of her as he does so, but she tries hard not to pay attention to him.

 

She looks at her feet instead, concentrates in pushing one in front of the other as she rushes down the street. 

 

Soon, it is silent once more.

 

( _I hate the silence.)_

 

All she can do now is keep moving forward.


End file.
